Dear Department for Communities (Northern Ireland),

On 21 January 2019, I requested that you share any guidance which Finance Support staff use when making a decision. The response I received directed me to general Decision Making Guidance which does not make specific reference to Discretionary Support decisions, but provides guidance on other social security matters and legislation.

The Office of the Discretionary Support Commissioner released its annual report into the operation of the discretionary support service in June of this year. Throughout this report, reference is made to departmental guidance (11 mentions in total, see https://www.communities-ni.gov.uk/system...)

Can you please clarify which guidance the Commissioner is referring to? If it is solely existing Advice for Decision Making guidance, can you please specifically state which volumes and paragraphs of this guidance are relevant to Discretionary Support decisions?

Can you also please provide a copy of any guidance relied on by Finance Support Officers and Review Officers when making or reviewing decisions specifically related to DS loans, DS grants and UC contingency fund payments, in order to assist those who are advocating for people in financial need who are in need of assistance through financial support?

Can you also advise if the Department intends to publish minutes or reports of the DS Change Control group?

Yours faithfully,

E Farrell

Dear Sempey Rachel NISSA ANTRIM DS,

Thank you for your response.

It is difficult for me to determine exactly which sections of the guidance are relevant to my request based solely on the document titles. If it is not possible to share the full guidance, could you provide any relevant sections which assist the member of staff in deciding whether to grant an award and in determining the amount of financial support which should be provided. I would imagine that this would, at the least, include the following sections:
Checks
Reasons for award or disallowance
Customer makes enquiry
Determination of an Award
Eligibility - Part 1
Eligibility - Part 2
Payments and Refunds
Review Guide
Finance Support Bulletins

Yours sincerely,

E Farrell